


Home

by Saetha



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, And stubborn, Angst, Baby Fíli and Kíli, Drinking, Dwarf Culture, Ered Luin, Homesickness, It's naming day and everybody gets drunk basically, Thorin is adorable when drunk, and he just wants to go home, but it's not the home Dwalin was thinking of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 16:06:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3902407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saetha/pseuds/Saetha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The youngest Durin heir has just been named - and the entire dwarven settlement is ecstatic with joy. The celebrations last all night and this time, Thorin is getting as drunk as anybody. It falls to Dwalin to bring him back home, however, that turns out a little more complicated than anticipated.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

**Author's Note:**

> A little birthday story for the wonderful [redsirion](http://redsirion.tumblr.com/) over on Tumblr. 
> 
> This is based off one of my favourite headcanons that my muse came up with and she allowed me to write it down and embellish it a bit :') (and as I love this idea so much I decided to throw it on here too, although it's a little shorter than what I usually write). Enjoy!

 

A second heir had been born to the princess of Durin's Folk and all of Ered Luin brimmed with happiness. The babe had been left unnamed for the first seven months as it was tradition amongst the dwarves; for although the little ones were always cherished and protected, it still happened that sometimes they were stolen away by death far too early. So dwarflings were only named after those first seven months had passed. The celebrations when Kíli, son of Dís and Víli, heir of Durin, received his outer name and the Maker's blessing in his parents' arms were even larger than those the day he had been born.

Dwalin knew that this was one of the few nights in his life where Thorin was about to get roaring drunk. The last time had, of course, been at Fíli's naming; Dwalin'd had to carry him home because for the first time in over sixty years, his king had been too drunk to actually remain upright and fallen asleep on their bed in the middle of getting undressed.

Today would be a similar night. Dís and Víli had retired home for the rest of it with their children; it had been a long day for all four of them and not only Kíli was tired now. The celebrations had barely been dimmed by their departure, however, and the ale was flowing freely, as well as Bombur's good old schnapps of which he had gotten out quite a few bottles from his secret storage in the cellars. Somewhere to Dwalin's right Bofur was loudly singing a song that he had apparently newly composed for the youngest of Durin's heirs. Even Bifur had joined them at the celebration for a while and it was an occasion that Thorin knew to value, seeing that the injured dwarf rarely sought the company of more than a few people at a time. For a while Thorin had talked to the Ur brothers before moving on to Dori who was watching his younger brother Nori with eagle eyes, only too aware of what a paradise this had to be for him. Oda and Vigdís were sitting closely together next to Dori, Oda loudly telling one bawdy story after another whilst her One was just smiling into her drink and laughing with her. Glóin had of course brought his family along and even Óin seemed to have had more than a few drinks. Next to Dwalin Balin was shaking his head when he looked at Oda slapping the healer so hard on the back laughing that he almost spilled his drink but Dwalin could see a smile tugging at his lips. He suspected that even Balin would get drunk this night.

"You should keep an eye on our king tonight." Balin murmured quietly in his direction. "I doubt he'll make it home on his own."

Dwalin grinned openly when he saw Thorin burst out with laughter and smack Glóin's shoulder in response to a jest the latter had made. Although his mind had seemed lighter ever since Fíli's birth, it was still rare to see him laughing out so loudly and openly. It did Dwalin's heart good to see him so.

"Of course I'll take care of him." he promised and lifted his own tankard in his brother's direction. Balin only nodded and toasted back with his own share of ale.

The night turned out to become even longer and merrier than he expected. At some point Bofur even managed to convince both Dori and Thorin to sing a song together, much to the amusement of everyone around them. Balin would have likely complained about the damage to their king's reputation, but he, too, was drunk enough not to care anymore, as were the rest of them. At one point Glóin's wife Ása and Nori were involved in one of the many drinking contests which ended with Nori falling backwards over his bench in a drunken stupor and Glóin laughing so hard that tears were running down over his cheeks and beaming with pride at his wife.

Dwalin had held back a little, but he knew he was very much drunk himself - although he was at least able to walk. Not exactly straight, but still. It was almost dawn when the celebrations finally died down, the first hint of light already visible on the horizon. Most of the attendants were snoring happily and a few more were engrossed in discussions with themselves or others over their last tankards of ale. Thorin had been staring at the wall for quite a while now and Dwalin thought that it would probably best to leave now whilst both of them were still awake.

"Come on Thorin, let's go home." he said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Hm?" Thorin looked up and stared intensely at him until Dwalin rolled his eyes. Right. They wouldn't really get anywhere before sunrise at this speed.

"Home, Thorin. Now." he said slowly and loudly, putting extra emphasis on each word.

"Ah. Yes." At last the message finally seemed to have found its way into Thorin's thick skull. He tried to get up from his bench but almost fell back down onto it when his legs proved a lot less stable than he was used to. Dwalin saved him by grabbing him and then unceremoniously slinging one of his arms around Thorin's shoulders to stabilise him.

"Hmmmmmm." Thorin sounded rather comfortable and Dwalin looked over to his One to see him snuggling closer to him, obviously enjoying the warmth of Dwalin's body. He sighed.

"Come on, let's get you into bed before you'll fall asleep on me."

Thorin turned his head and grinned at him in a rather suggestive way. "Yes. Bed. I'm in. You too."

Dwalin just rolled his eyes in response, sighing again. He liked it when Thorin showed initiative so openly, but he knew it wouldn't lead anywhere, not when he was as drunk as he was now.

"Whatever. Come on now, let's get moving." With those words he gently prodded Thorin to come along.

To his surprise Thorin recovered his own balance relatively quickly once they were outside and he only had to walk close to him instead of half dragging him, ready to catch his partner should he stumble and fall. They walked in silence for a while until Thorin suddenly turned right. Dwalin felt the rather intense urge to bash his face into a wall. Why did his partner's phenomenally bad sense of direction have to strike _now_? It was hard enough convincing a sober Thorin that he was going the wrong way; it was almost impossible to do so with the stubborn mule that drunk Thorin turned into.

"Thorin, where are you going? Home is this way." Dwalin caught his arm and gently tried to steer him in the opposite direction again.

"No no, this way." Thorin didn't slow down, simply dragging Dwalin along.

"Thorin...come on, I'm taking you home, we're almost there." He tried to sound reasonable, but he could see that it wasn't working. At least Thorin finally stopped and turned around to look in his face. Dwalin almost took a step back when he saw the expression in his eyes - a look of utter incomprehension mixed with a longing that made a strange pang race through his chest.

"But it's the wrong direction." Thorin almost sounded like a petulant child.

"Then pray tell me, what is the _right_ direction?" Dwalin was close to losing his patience now. Thorin still looked at him as if he didn't know why Dwalin wasn't understanding what he was saying. Then he lifted his arm and pointed at where the horizon was slowly starting to gain colour from the rising sun.

"Home's over there. Now are you coming or going?" And finally Dwalin understood.

East. Where the Misty Mountains lay and the forests of Mirkwood. And beyond it...Erebor. Their home.

Thorin had meanwhile started walking again, setting off proudly in the direction where the ancient halls of stone were waiting for their king to return. _But not today_ , Dwalin thought. His heart was breaking as he watched his king's steps and for a moment he wished that it would truly be so easy, that they could simply go home like this. Erebor had never mattered as much to him as it did to Thorin - for Dwalin, home was were his people were. As long as he had his family, friends, and his One around him he was content. However, it had never been like that for Thorin and he knew it. The mountain was calling him every single day and often enough Dwalin had caught him staring east when he thought nobody could see it. Dwalin shook off those thoughts and jogged after Thorin, putting a hand on his shoulder as soon as he reached him.

"Before we go we should get Balin, don't you think? And I need to stop and pick up Grasper and Keeper before we leave." He hoped it would provide a good enough reason for Thorin to turn around. Indeed his partner stopped, honestly seeming to think about his words for a moment.

"Alright." he finally said. "But then we go home."

"Yes." Dwalin replied, attempting a smile. "Then we'll go home.'

Thorin followed him back to the houses that stood side by side, connected by a little walkway between the homes of Fundin's sons and Dís' family. Dwalin was more than grateful that Thorin became more and more tired and was barely awake when they arrived; that way it was easy for him to convince Thorin to go to bed and catch some sleep first before they set off again. Dwalin lay down at his side, listening to the world outside slowly awaken to the new day and the soft sound of Thorin's snoring next to him. He hoped that one day, they might truly be home again.


End file.
